Our Weekend in Sleepy Hollow


We took a day trip last weekend just north of the city to visit Washington Irving's home, Sleepy Hollow, and the Great Jack O'lantern Blaze. It was a fantastic day! Lyndon planned the whole outing. He is kind of obsessed with the Blaze, but we all kind of are. Cosette has been talking about the "tunnel of love" from the Blaze this entire year. She was so excited to go to the "tunnel of love". Although since it was such an action packed day both kids were pretty tired by the time we reached it. I have been saying all month that we are big fans of Halloween in our house (Me and Coco). Cosette has been watching Curious George's Boo Fest just about every day which was perfect for the outing because it helped her understand The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was what the day revolved around. The headless horseman (or Hessian) is known as no noggin in our house.
Our first stop was to Washington Irving's home where we took a tour of the house, saw a puppet show of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow done in the traditional silhouette puppets, went on a spooky walk through the woods next to the house. On the spooky walk we were told another one of Irving's stories, The Devil and Tom Walker. Irving is a fantastic story teller! I really like our guide because he really helped engage Cosette in the story and after the walk was over she told us one of her own spooky stories. She was really inspired.
We then went to the actual Sleepy Hollow! It is a town! I think if we ever move out of the city it will be to there. Such a charming town and the high school's mascot is the horseman. To live in a town that is all about Halloween, what a dream come true for me, haha. There we went to the Dutch Church where we listen to a recitation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Dutch Church is the actual church that Irving writes about in the story. Ichabod sees it as he is riding away from the horseman and makes a mad dash towards it. Right in front of it is the bridge that the horseman can not cross. It was so cool! We learned throughout the day that many of the places and people were actually real places and people. Katrina Van Tassel was a real person, wow!
We ended the day at the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. This was the whole reason we took this trip. We love seeing the thousands of pumpkins carved and made into all these amazing creations. We should have gone earlier because both kids were super tired by the time we got there, but we made it through with no tantrums. Our favorite pumpkin sculptures were the classic horror characters (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.), The Macbeth Witches (double, double, toil, and trouble), and a new one this year was the headless horseman! The "tunnel of love" was just as lovely as ever. Henry and I gave each other kisses in it. He is my sweetheart. Cosette was happy to see it again. She was also wearing her "tunnel of love" socks (pumpkin faces all over them). It was the best day!
Here is a short film we created from our day's adventure.
Happy Halloween!

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